Gytha licked at her shoulder and arm. The wounds were mostly healed, but they still itched and she wanted to scratch them. But when she did, they bled and hurt again. Licking them seemed a reasonable compromise.

Dipak screamed.

Gytha shot up and ran, quick through the trees, Jacob was behind her, but she easily out paced him. Dipak screamed Continue reading “D113016”→

Lee stared out between the trees. Night had settled. The summer heat was oppressive even after the sun had gone from the sky. Wiping the back of her tacky hand across her face was pointless, but she kept doing it. Then she wiped her hands on her damp shorts. A full futile cycle. The tank top she was wearing was soaked in her sweat. She wished that they could just open the portal and be through it already. Maybe the weather was nicer there. But Nick was right Continue reading “D1129165”→

Still exhausted, she lay huddled in Kevin’s arms. He leaned against the trunk of a solid oak. Its branches stretched over them and blocked out the harsh heat of the sun. Lee had slept for some time, waking to find herself in this hushed wooded grove. She wept as the memories rushed back in. Kevin said nothing. He just held her. What could he say that would wipe away the blood from her hands. He knew all to well the fear and anger that she felt now. Continue reading “D1129166”→

She nodded. The visions could be controlled. Seeing things on the other sides of walls or hearing conversations in other rooms. Could she reach out to another city? What were her limits? Trying to imagine the possibilities she began to hope.

Joban stood, gripping the back of the chair to keep his balance. Sliding his arm under Xania’s limp back, his eyes went wide. A small puff of breath escaped him. Then he was plummeting down into another world.

Great doors towered above him. They were iron and two trees loomed on either side. Their large branches worked through the bars of the doors and held them tightly closed. They trembled, even though the earth stood still. They seemed to pulse, pushing out ward as if breathing. The bars bowing out, slacking and sagging inward before bowing outward again. They shuddered and a crack split through one trunk so that the wood grinned with long wicked teeth and the bark hung from the wood like a wounded thing. Darkness ebbed from the sore, seeping out in great gobs. It blobbed down onto the ground and puddled there, leaving a slimy film where it had previously been. He took a step back. The darkness shuddered and twisted as if it considered him, but there were no eyes with which to regard him.Continue reading “D1129162”→

Derrex held Xania’s hand and guided her through the market. She followed him blindly. Echoes of that other place kept coming back to her. The high ceiling. The people around her. All the other girls there looked just like her. And they were all just girls. How old? Maybe ten. It seemed real. Felt like memory. They fell like cut wood. One downed after the other. Those in the white scrubs were supposed to be taking care of them, but now they were killing them like cattle. Continue reading “D1129161”→

“Ok, first things first. Her hair has to go!” the woman declared, pulling out a small bag from the trunk. She patted the bed and added, “come on over, sweet heart and I’ll get you fixed up.”

Xania went over and sat on the bed. The woman opened her kit and busied herself with Xania’s hair. Xania watched as locks of hair fell around her. The process was long. Starting with cutting, then shaving, then dying, and styling… Continue reading “D1127162”→